One of the clear benefits of Microsoft shifting its Edge browser from HTML5 to Chromium was being able to tap into the thousands of Google Chrome web extensions (Addons). That has been the case with all extensions from Chrome available on Chromium Edge.
However, when running an extension from the Chrome Web Store on Edge, Google would warn users. The company placed a warning says, “Google recommends switching to Chrome to use extensions securely”.
It was a crafty move on Google’s part that suggested there were inherent risks involved when running an extension on Edge. That was not the case according to most security researchers. Google has now responded and has changed its tactic.
Importantly, starting this week the company will no longer display the message on Chromium Edge. This means users can download Chrome web extensions without being told they may be putting their PC at risk.
Not only has Google removed the controversial message, it has added a new Edge-friendly prompt:
“You can now add extensions from the Chrome Web Store to Microsoft Edge – click on ‘Add to Chrome.’”
Edge Addons
Microsoft’s Chromium Edge supports its own extensions (called Addons by Microsoft) through the Edge Store. As we reported last week, the store is starting to gain some traction and there are now over 1,200 Addons available.
In other words, this is the number of Addons developers have created to run specifically on Microsoft Edge. Sure, that’s still way lower than the extensions on Chrome and Addons on Mozilla Firefox. Although, it shows developers are more interested in developing for Edge than they previously were.